“Try to avoid Birzebbugia and Marsa, as after sunset both places do not belong to us anymore.”

by Mario Mamo

On Saturday 4 August, at 2115hrs, I was driving to Birzebbugia from Hal Far Road to ‘Tal-Gebel’ Road, with my wife and my mum in the back seat.

Suddenly three immigrants stopped in the middle of the road ahead of me, and I had no alternative but to stop and ask them to move, while locking the windows of the car and flashing the lights. Two of them did move but the third one held on to the bullbar of the car and stood there for a while, then moved to the side of the car and started hitting the bonnet of the car with his fist.

Since it was a feast day at Birzebbugia, I had to park the car at the outskirts of the village and walk to the police station. After my family and I explained this traumatic experience to five Maltese policemen, the first question I was sarcastically asked was: “Am I ready to go to Hal Far barracks and identify the persons involved? I am convinced that there are few persons on the island who could identify coloured people at 1000hrs in the morning, figure out at 2100hrs at night, in the middle of a road with no lights at all.

After a report was drafted I was asked to go back on Wednesday after 2100hrs to the Birzebbugia police station so they can have a look at the damages in the car.

This did not convince me so I drove up to the Zejtun Police Station and went through the whole story once again. The very helpful sergeant on duty came to look at the car and noticed a lot of finger prints which in his opinion could help to identify the perpetrator.